Afghans protest, Fla. pastor plans to meet NY imamGAINESVILLE, Fla. – As thousands of Afghans protested a tiny Florida church's plan to burn the Muslim holy book, the church's pastor said he won't follow through with the burning if he's able to meet Saturday with the organizers behind a mosque planned near ground zero in New York.

In Afghanistan, at least 11 people were injured Friday in protests.

Police in the northern province of Badakhshan said several hundred demonstrators ran toward a NATO compound where four attackers and five police were injured in clashes. Protesters also burned an American flag at a mosque after Friday prayers. In western Farah province, police said two people were injured in another protest.

Speaking to NBC's "Today" show, the Rev. Terry Jones said if he meets with the imam in New York, he won't burn the Quran. It wasn't clear if he meant the burning would be halted indefinitely or just for Saturday.

I do have to say that we are a nation for freedom of religion. I have mixed feelings about Islam in America, but I recognize they are subjective and illogical. I do not condone the immolation of documents, especially those which are perceived as sacred. The act of BOOK BURNING is NAZI. And evil.

I think the poor guy is an ignorant individual who got in way, way over his head on this one!

In fairness, I might point out that it is the regular policy of the Saudi government - and that of many other Muslim countries - to burn every Bible they find. They've been doing it for years. In our perfectly just outrage at this sad, ignorant little man, let us not lose sight of the fact that freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of expression do not exist in much of the Islamic world. And those are the values that SOME - not nearly all - Muslims would like to nurture here.

What I find so ironic is that Muhammad himself refered to the Bible as "the Lucid Book" and "a light and illumination to man."

If the cameras would go away and stop giving this whack job air time this would all end. How one hateful individual has the power to cause this much insanity in the world blows my mind.

While I agree that one man could have brought us to Jihad with this incident. it makes me wonder if the same worldwide and domestic indignance would exist if it were the Bible or the Torah that were to be burned....

That aside, I also find it insane that someone would convince young men that they will get 72 virgin brides if they blow themselves up for God (or die in his service.) If you're going to mention lunacy, let's not forget to pay homage to the other nutjobs out there, of which there are many.

I think the poor guy is an ignorant individual who got in way, way over his head on this one!

In fairness, I might point out that it is the regular policy of the Saudi government - and that of many other Muslim countries - to burn every Bible they find. They've been doing it for years. In our perfectly just outrage at this sad, ignorant little man, let us not lose sight of the fact that freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of expression do not exist in much of the Islamic world. And those are the values that SOME - not nearly all - Muslims would like to nurture here.

What I find so ironic is that Muhammad himself refered to the Bible as "the Lucid Book" and "a light and illumination to man."

You said this very well.

Sadly, with the polarization we see today, ANY religion other than Christianity is always seen as the victim when one attempts to point out it's flaws and it's own inherent hypocrisies. Apparently Christianty is the only extremist religion...

With the potentially volatile nature of Islam, it makes me wonder:

In America and abroad, how many people on the Freedom Of Religion bandwagon actually truly defend Islam for honest reasons, versus those who defend it out of fear of the consequences if they speak their true mind?

You never see or hear the media condemning Islam, and I think it's because they fear what would happen. I digress to the Danish cartoon incident and the murder of Theo Van Gogh in Holland a few years back.